He was 82 and is survived by wife Chandrakanta, a
former three-time MLA, two sons Pradeep, Piyush two daughters Pramila
and Pratibha. Goyal had been ailing since May this year. He was
hospitalised once for a fortnight in May and again for over the past
one week.

Born on January 31, 1926 at Karnal in Haryana, Goyal
was educated at Dayanand Anglo Vedic College, Lahore, and did his and B
Sc (in Chemical Engineering). Goyal died at 9 pm and his funeral will
take place at 11 am on Thursday.

Close to both former Prime
Minister AB Vajpayee and senior BJP leader LK Advani, Goyal was the
Shipping Minister for two-and-a-half years in the previous Vajpayee-led
NDA Cabinet at the Centre.

A former All India treasurer of the
BJP, Goyal was the party’s Mumbai unit president. He had been a
full-time RSS worker after completed his B.Sc in 1949. Subsequently, he
was closely associated with Bharatiya Jana Sangh, Janata Party and the
BJP.

Goyal
was the founder editor of Nirbhay Pathik, a Hindi daily published from
Mumbai. He was awarded “distinguished Alumnus Award” by Banaras Hindu
University in 1984 and during 1997-98, he promoted young entrepreneurs
projects in Science and Engineering models through Akhil Bharatiya
Vidarthi Parishad; women empowerment, slums development and upliftment
of Adivasis through an NGO “Van-Bandhu”; Community service through
projects like public convenience, community halls, gymnasium,
beautification of public places, support to charitable medical
institutions.